Cardamoms are aromatic seeds used as seasoning in drinks, confectionary, cakes, desserts, pickles, and sauces. Since you can use cardamom on variety of food items, cardamom is one of the widely used spices. Cardamom originally belong to India, however, now it can be grown almost everywhere. You can grow cardamom from the seedling that germinates from the root of adult cardamom plant or from the seeds of cardamom. If you want to grow cardamom from seeds, here is an easy to follow process.
You have two options for seeds, one, you take out seeds from the pods and plant these seeds; two, you buy seeds from agro center online or offline. In terms of germination, store bought seeds are better compared to the seeds you take out from cardamom from your kitchen cabinet. You don’t know how old the cardamom you bought from grocery store is. You bought these cardamoms as spice and they are good as spice and might have low or no germination. Furthermore, grocery bought cardamom are also processed or chemically treated, thus, they have poor germination. Therefore, if you want to grow cardamom, you better buy seeds from agro store. Having said that it is still ok to try growing cardamom from your grocery bought cardamoms.
Choose cardamoms that have tight pods. Take out seeds and separate seeds. Choose bigger and darker seeds. Smaller and lighter seeds may not germinate.
Cardamom seeds are coated with hard and sticky material. Due to this outer layer, cardamom seeds have low germination. Thus, in order to grow cardamom, you will have to remove this outer layer before you plant seeds. You can remove this outer layer in two different ways, one, you soak the seeds in washroom cleaner for 10-15 minutes; two, you rub seeds on sand paper until inner white layer is exposed. If you are choosing the second method to remove the outer layer of the seed, you will also have t soak the seeds in water for 10-15 minutes. By the way, you can still plant the seeds without removing the outer layer but you have to soak seeds for 10-15 minutes before planting.
Fill seedling tray with coco peat. Alternatively, you can also use gardening soil. However, when you are using coco peat germination is faster as the coco peat retains moisture for longer duration. Plant one seed on one hole and cover the seeds with a thin layer of coco peat or soil. In case you have treated the seeds with washroom cleaner, rinse with water before planting. If you have bought seeds from agro store, you can soak the seeds in water for 10-15 minutes and then plant directly. You do not have to remove the layer from the seeds.
After planting the seeds, water the seedling tray and place the seedling tray where it gets warm temperature and bright light. Cardamom seeds need warm temperature and bight light to grow well.
It takes almost 30-35 days for cardamom seeds to germinate. Once the seeds sprouts, you will have to wait 45-50 more days for the seedling to be transferred to your garden or pots. Before cardamom seeds are ready to be transplanted or repotted, you will have to add liquid fertilizer and water time to time. You will have to wait until the seedlings are 5-6 inches tall before you can plant the seedling in your garden or transfer to a container.
When you pluck seedling from the seedling tray, you will see a bulb like thing on the area that separates the root and shoot. This bulb like structure will regenerate another cardamom plant once the plant becomes adult. You can then separate the seedling and plant it somewhere else.
After you pull seedlings from the seedling tray, plant them in your garden or in containers. When you are planting in your garden, choose an area that gets good sunlight and also has a good drainage. If you are planting in a container, keep the container outdoor so that it gets warm temperature and bright light.